Berlin - 3rd day ( Around Gendarmenmarkt and the German Cathedral area ) - 23rd April 2011

We decided to head towards the Unter der Linden area and started by exploring the Gendarmenmark square built up at the end of the seventeenth century and whose name is associated with the fact that the Regiment Gents d'Armes had its horse stables close to it then.

We visited the 1708 Deutscher Dom, a former German Protestant-Reformist church whose dom is very similar to that of the Französischer Dom and which  now exhibits the history of the parlamentary democracy in Germany.

A mural paiting depicting the Hitlerian youth marching in the streets

The  1705 Französischer Dom built for the French Hugenot exiles (being a replica of the main Hugenote church in Charenton) is still  used for religious services, we are told. The Hugenots are said to have played an extremely important role in the scientific and commercial development of Berlin.

To its left and occupying the central part of the square stands the Schauspielhaus considered to be one of Germany's leading theatres for decades. Frans Liszt is said to have enchanted audiences here and though it is no longer used for drama it is now known as the "Konzerhaus" and has become one of Berlin's most important venues for classical concerts. In its foreground a Schiller memorial statue.

 

The Schauspiel (Left). The Französischer Dom (Right).

We then continued walking eastwards having come across the1824 neo-Gothic Friedrichswerdersche Kirche and soon after the neo-baroque Berliner Dom dating back to 1894, though only two of the original building's three parts remain.

The Friedrichswerdersche Kirche (Left). The Berliner Dom (Right).

The Schlossbrücke with one of its Carrara white marble statues and the Berliner Dom in the background (Left). The Berliner Dom seen from the Karl-Liebknecht  Strasse (Right).

 

 

The magnificient interior with the cupola mosaics (Left). The  Cathedral organ, whose 7269 pipes make it one of the largest in Germany (Right).

The cupola

We were impressed  .... and before continuing around the Museum island stopped at a second hand book fair just inside the courtyard of the Humboldt University.

(To be continued)